Arthur arrived, and entered the McDonalds. He saw Melissa, standing around near the machine to order, and he went over to her. She looked at him and waved, to which he waved in return and looked away.
'If I like her more than she likes me, I automatically lose. Remember, no woman can ever actually love you romantically. Don't forget, it's not just your looks that repulse them, but your personality too.'
'Though, Lucy's the one to get you to this point. Just enjoy it while it lasts, and we'll never see her again.'
"Heyy, so, I'm really glad you picked this place out, since I'm kinda broke. Are you in college? You're 19, right?" She asked him, as he sorted through the menus, picking out what he wanted.
'Hm. I guess I'll take a large fry and a triple cheeseburger. I'm hoping we split the bill, but if she dumps it on me then it'll be best if I don't make it worse for myself. Wait, what was she saying?'
Arthur laughed at her answer, hoping that it was serviceable. She looked at him with confusion. "What's so funny?"
'Crud.'
"Um, nothing. Sorry, I was trying to see what to eat, um, what were you asking?" Arthur muttered, having chosen his meal.
"Oh! Well, I was wondering if you were in college," she said. Arthur nodded his head, taking out his wallet.
"Um, not to sound too weird, but this costs 30 dollars, can you give me 15 dollars in cash and I'll pay for it, or…?" He said, really, truly, absolutely hoping she wouldn't take offense to it. She seemed to be fine with it, and gave him a 10 and a five dollar bill.
That decision softened his heart by quite a large margin, and he paid. They sat down at a booth and talked a bit while waiting.
"So you're in college? Which one?" She asked, using her arm as a pillar to support her head on the table. "Abellux University," he answered.
"Oh, that's nice! I've been wanting to go into the military for a while, but I've been holding back on it for some time," she told him.
'Into the military? To get deployed and out of reach for six months? I'll never trust that, not even for a second.'
Truly, his thoughts were similar to that of a boy who got cheated on and has now lost any trust in half the population.
"Oh really now? Why the military?" He asked, looking at the receipt and refusing to meet her eyes.
"Well, it's kinda the highest point of human intelligence, isn't it?"
"What?"
"Being book smart, being street smart, both of those things are ideal for a proper General, right?" She told him, her eyes lighting up as she smiled fervently and began to speak even faster.
What came next was an absolute abomination of words, which were said with such speed that Arthur had no chance of countering or getting a word in.
"Take the invention of the nuclear bomb. We only figured that stuff out because we wanted to destroy our enemies, right? That's book smart right there. And Generals need to know what to do in order to win the battle. The truth is, humans are fighters and soldiers naturally. Humans need to stick together to survive. And what can lead to companionship like war? Absolutely nothing! It's sticking together through training, through blood and death, that kind of absolute bond is what has allowed humanity to stay alive. War is good for the economy. No, wait, don't look at me like that! I'm not arguing for war, I don't like war in particular. However, war is still the highest demonstration of useful intelligence. Chess is a solid metric for intelligence, and chess is just a small-scale war. If one masters war, they master conflict. Conflict is seen in everyday life, and war is a beautiful way of growing. Again, back to the main point, war is the highest demonstration of intelligence because every single type of intelligence is needed. You need academic intelligence for the mechanics, you need emotional intelligence, not just for yourself but for your comrades. You need physical intelligence, knowing how to use your body. If you're smart, you need to know war. If you know war, then no matter how much you might fail in other categories, you're smart. War naturally does stunt intelligence, at least for the losers. The losers have their libraries burnt and their people killed. However, for the winner, they either had a new invention which drastically changed and helped the world, or they had smart people who made the moves on the battlefield and got their people the win. If one pursues the intellectual arts, then war is absolutely necessary, don't you agree? Oh, you look weirded out. Is it something I said? I mean, can you disagree? War has existed for lots of human history. I myself am a believer that peace is the default, and that war is the event, rather than the natural state of things. But even in saying that, even if you believe that, you have to admit that war is a wonderful thing, at least certain aspects of it. War is a culmination of an entire nation, their greatest thinkers, their greatest people, all fighting to overcome their adversary. War brings about unity like nothing else. In peaceful times, you see people all angry and stuff. But we don't need to hate each other if we can hate our opposition. I'm not arguing that people should all be bloodthirsty monsters out for revenge or destruction. In fact, I am very repulsed by such ideals. I hate people who go into the military just to kill people. That's wrong. What I admire about war, about military strategy, is the sheer complexity of it, and how it pushes people to their mind's limits. If you're a good general, you're a smart person, no one can take that from you. Military strategy requires deep intelligence to outwit your opponent, using factors like reputation, weather, terrain, your own allies, your ability to command and lead, and many more. The military is the pinnacle of human intelligence. And as for what I was saying about people who kill for the sake of killing, I do hate that. It shows no beauty, only a bloodlust which I can't agree with. In truth, I hate overly aggressive men. What I yearn for is a general who can make smart, tactical decisions that win wars. Is there anything that shows greater proof of one's intelligence?"
That lengthy, giant clump of words strung about by what seemed to be a lunatic, all of it was forcefully put into Arthur's ear. Her praise of the intelligence of the military, her hatred of aggression and her actual dislike of war, yet the beauty she saw in the minds who entered, that was all Arthur got from it.
"Oh. Uh, sure," he said. He'd been nodding his head in wait for the past while, and a woman came over with their food trays. Arthur thanked her and began to eat.
'I just wanna gloss over that.'
"Well, what do you do now?" Arthur asked her. "Oh, right now I'm working at my dad's hardware store. But eventually, I might join the military. I've wanted to do it since I was a little girl. When I read stories, I've always admired the mastermind character, if the story had one. Someone who pulled the strings, I idolized their intelligence. And the closest real-world equivalent of those people, barring any conspiracy theory world-governments, is that of a military general. Anyways, how about you? Do you have a job as well?"
"Ah, yeah. I work at a grocery store," he said, taking bites of his cheeseburger.
"That's nice. So, I like to come prepared for these things, so let's get some basic questions out of the way," she spoke with a lighthearted smile. "What's your favorite color?"
"Ah… probably like… blue. Or purple, I dunno," he answered. "How about you?"
"I like purple as well! It's the color signifying royalty, so I think it's a splendid color. Ooh, how about this? What's the most exciting thing you've done recently?" She asked, taking a bite from her own meal.
"Err, maybe a…"
He truly didn't have much of an answer. In terms of emotion, it was probably a threeway tie between being nearly killed by his mother, fighting Taylor, and being beaten to near death inside of a restaurant. But none of those were exactly exciting.
No, his fight was very exciting. He went insane for a moment, just wanting to kill his opponent. But that wasn't exactly a very good answer, now was it? So, he had to give a more normal answer, that being—
"Probably going to a martial arts class this morning," he answered. She gasped in excitement, smiling brightly and saying, "Oh my gosh, really? That's so awesome, what martial arts do you do?"
"Um, none. I was just testing it out, and I don't think that gym is really for me…"
"Aw, that's such a shame. Y'know, my dad used to be a pretty big guy back in the day. He'd always get into arguments with his martial artist friend about who could beat the other up. What do you say? Is it martial arts or strength that dominates?"
'The heck kinda question is that?'
"Uh… what do you think?" He asked her. He didn't really want to talk too much, so he decided to let her do most of the talking, as she was clearly comfortable with that.
"Hm… it's a pretty age-old question. That said, it's a bit complex. Rather, it doesn't have such a simple answer as one or the other. It's a balance, really. If you're strong, you'll have a heavy advantage against those beneath you in terms of weight and the like. It goes case by case, that's what I think."
"Oh, yeah, that's fair," he said, followed by a small silence. They ate for a bit, finishing their food rather quickly.
The two got up to throw their things away, and when they left the McDonalds, she smiled.
"I had a lot of fun! It's not everyday I get to say what's on my mind with a person. It's fun to be able to talk about fun things instead of boring things, y'know?"
"Aha, yeah…" He said, as she touched his hand. Arthur almost recoiled, but he kept his composure, feeling very hot and the pain in his face that came with it. He felt itchy in the scalp, and he felt the moisture on his forehead from sweat. He felt terrible. Really, he felt afraid.
"I didn't bore you, did I? I know I can talk my head off, but I've had a lot of feelings and thoughts I've wanted to share with someone, but was never able to. Can we do this again sometime?" She asked him, stroking her small index finger along the back of his hand.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Arthur said, not wanting to flat out reject her. He kicked himself, though, as this was something he wanted to avoid.
To put things frankly, if Arthur were to open his heart, he would most likely fall in love with this woman. However, the idea of loving her, and then having her lose interest in him or cheat on him, that idea was scarier than if he never felt anything towards her at all.
Arthur gently pulled his hand away, taking a glance at the back of it, hoping no damage had been done.
How he felt about her currently was that she was a weird woman. However, that in itself wasn't a bad thing in his mind, and he was quite certain that someone else might make a better fit for her. However, he knew that if he attempted to assert himself as that "someone," eventually she would turn against him.
And yet, there was a seed embedded in his heart. And it was slowly blooming. He could feel it in real time, as despite his best efforts to reject any sort of love, he felt it.
"Well, um, goodbye. It was fun," he told her, waving her off before going back to his car. He entered inside, leaned back in his seat and looked up at the roof with exhaustion.
'Please stop.'
But it wouldn't.
Not to get all mushy mushy, but it was an undeniable feeling of slight romance. It was the first time a woman had ever shown him an ounce of romantic intent, an ounce he could hope.
She wasn't too attractive for him, to where he was certain she would leave him for someone better. She also did seem to genuinely enjoy herself around him, and due to her having been put into the situation with reality manipulation, apparently she did genuinely have interest in him.
It was unthinkable.
And most of all, frightening.
'How could she even like me? What does she see in me? I've already told her how broke I am. I don't have money, I don't have looks, and she doesn't see my dragonblood, unless…'
Perhaps she was a dragon. But not just any dragon, but one from the Oppen family, the descendent of the War Dragon.
'It's all to manipulate me into being an easy target. Why don't they just stop? Why can't they stop? Why, why why whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy?'
'They never leave me alone. Just let me live my normal life. I just want to spend time with my friends, study in college and live normally.'
'"Normal" was an impossible standard to reach. And just when I had a taste of normal, my hard work crumpled. I swear, I just want to…'
Arthur groaned, clenching his fists.
'I feel sick.'